Cops too love their fads

There is a new fad going around. Mumbai's senior police officers have now taken to wearing black berets. Over the past few weeks almost all Indian Police Service (IPS) officers have been spotted wearing black berets with even inspectors emulating the seniors. This is a clear departure from the oh-so-boring peak caps, which the Maharashtra policemen used to wear. One of the few early exceptions was slain Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte.

The state reserve police and other paramilitary forces have been wearing these caps for quite some. But it rarely caught the fancy of senior policemen. Therefore, I was a little surprised when I saw the IPS changing
to berets. While some of the cops looked smart in the new outfit, the others simply looked different.

It took me a while to realise what was the reason behind the change. But it wasn't difficult. The newly-appointed Commissioner of Police D Sivanandan wears a beret. And the fad is catching up so fast that with every police function, the number of officers turning to the beret is increasing. Many of these officers are seen around the police chief.

I am sure the juniors are impressed by Sivanandan's leadership qualities too. May be they are doing this to emulate the boss.

After all, till a few years ago, a Commissioner of Police was a regular face in Page 3 circles. The fad caught on and a largeu00a0 number of officers were seen at parties across the city. A few officers had even acquired the tag of 'party person'. They didn't even hesitate to pose for news photographers.

An older incident has a similar story to tell. A Maratha officer took over as commissioner of Thane. He was not very particular about his looks, particularly about his grey hair. The day he took charge, he made it a point to meet his team of senior officers. Most of them had died their hair and looked flamboyant, even though some were his contemporaries.

The commissioner raised his eyebrows on seeing them. That was enough to send the message across.

Overnight, almost all the officers returned to their natural look. How they managed it is not clear, but they turned up in office with greying hair.

A junior officer pointed out that it was a fad to sport grey hair in Thane as long as the commissioner held his post. Once he was transferred, everyone dyed their hair black again.

The commissioner wears a beret, and now, so do most other copsu00a0u00a0

J Dey is Editor Investigations with MiD DAY